dudacek

Not a big deal, but curious as to why Athletic articles aren’t linked. Not sure how the articles are curated, but they seem to be one of the better sources of info out there. I know they’re paywalled but the Buffalo News is as well after you hit a limit. I also think the Adams and Granato presser videos on the Sabres site would be great additions to the feed. Maybe some of the podcasts as well, like Maintenance Day and Expected Buffalo. Basically would make the news page a one-stop shop for regular Sabres sources of info.

Vibes, ladies and gentleman, vibes. The poll for this thread should make clearer what your expectations are for the team as a whole, but as far as your expectations for individual players go: to paraphrase Dennis Hopper, good things man, good things. The best word to describe the way you voted was optimistic. 1. Nobody expects any of the players who broke out last year to backslide: This, perhaps more than anything explains the conflict between how Sabresfans view the Sabres and how others do. 59 per cent of you expect Jeff Skinner to repeat his career year. Tage Thompson improves his career-best numbers by 54 points and 78 percent of you say he will do as good, or better this year. 95 per cent of you feel Alex Tuch will hit totals he has reached just once in his career. 85 per cent of you think Rasmus Dahlin will finish the year recognized as one of the NHL's top defencemen. Even Kyle Okposo's jump from 2 goals to 21 goals at the age of 34 seems sustainable for nearly half of you. 2. The supporting cast is going to improve It's probably not a surprise that the polls reveal great faith in improvement from Dylan Cozens and Casey Mittelstadt, given the development curve of the former and the misfortunes of the latter, combined with the draft pedigree and the opportunity in front of each. What's probably more surprising is the fact that nearly 59 per cent of you believe that after only 54 NHL games Mattias Samuelsson will be effective as the team's top shutdown defenceman. 3. You aren't pinning your hopes on rookies One of the more intriguing trends of the polls was the reluctance of people to expect "too much" from the kids. Fully 1/3 of you expect Peterka to spend time in Rochester while only 10 per cent see him in the rookie of the year conversation. Quinn fared a little better with just 4 per cent predicting more time with the Amerks and 23 per cent seeing him being a Calder contender. Even Power — whom everyone expects to play and play a lot — had 3/4s of the voters expecting less than 40 points. 4. Goaltending will be better, but it's still a concern Sabrespace has invested a fair amount of hope in Comrie (62 per cent) to emerge to carry the load better than last year's collection of keepers, even though only 27 per cent of you feel he will do that to the level of a legit NHL #1. You don't think Craig Anderson can perform at a level beyond "reliable backup", and almost no one expects Luukkonen to be a significant factor on the big club this year. A sizable portion don't see that ever happening for UPL. Do you agree with the consensus? Why or why not? Individual polls here: 1 Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen 8 Riley Sheahan 10 Henri Jokiharju 15 Anders Bjork 19 Peyton Krebs 20 Lawrence Pilut 21 Kyle Okposo 22 Jack Quinn 23 Mattias Samuelsson 24 Dylan Cozens 25 Owen Power 26 Rasmus Dahlin 28 Zemgus Girgensons 29 Vinnie Hinostroza 31 Eric Comrie 37 Casey Mittelstadt 41 Craig Anderson 45 Casey Fitzgerald 46 Ilya Lyubushkin 53 Jeff Skinner 71 Victor Olofsson 72 Tage Thompson 74 Rasmus Asplund 77 JJ Peterka 78 Jacob Bryson 89 Alex Tuch

In what way would Cozens be better had he had a stint with Rochester? A 50-point rookie season last year if he had spent the previous year in Rochester? 40 points in 60 games had he spent the first 20 last year in Rochester?

In off-ice news, the Sabrespace News page has a new look and is looking sharp @SDS

In what way, shape or form was Dylan Cozens rushed? Kid got sent down and dominated his D+1 year in junior - 38 goals and 85 points in just 51 games. Top 10 picks with that kind of production generally go to the NHL in their D+2 seasons. COVID loaded up the WJC in his D+2 year - everyone eligible played because there was no NHL. Despite the tougher competition, he put up 8/8/16 in just 7 games - one of the most productive tourney’s ever by a Canadian. He finished that year with 41 games in Buffalo and struggled a bit but survived. His junior team didn’t play. The Amerks didn’t play much. That set him up for his first full season last year, where he finished 83rd among NHL centres in points - in the same range as players like Toews, Cirelli, Necas, Domi and Wild Bill Karlsson. He clearly belonged in the NHL. Is it really your position that Dylan would be farther ahead right now if he had played 25 games in Rochester in 20/21 rather than 41 in the NHL? Or that he should have been in the AHL last year? How was he rushed?

The Okposo as a 4th-liner meme is pretty much the creation of Ralph Krueger. If you want to put your faith in that guy’s judgement…🤷 Ice time and rank over his 6 years in Buffalo 16:47 2nd liner 13:53 3rd liner 12:51 4th liner 13:47 3rd liner 17:02 2nd liner 18:58 2nd liner If the Sabres get to the point Okposo is being benched, that means the team is healthy, and all of Krebs, Peterka, Quinn have taken a big jump, or Kyle’s game has fallen off a Cliff. I wonder how many questioning Kyle’s C also slammed the Sabres for “forcing” the C on Eichel. They stripped the room of the failed core and gave it a season for the new leadership to evolve. This is what evolved. Any one who doesn’t understand that Kyle is the leader of this group just hasn’t been paying attention.

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Straight out of Donnie’s mouth: Comrie requested the away games, knowing full well what that meant.

If that game is a burden that could affect Comrie all season he was never going to be much help to us in the first place.

Sometimes I think you guys are too rooted in football. Comrie working with his D is not like Josh Allen getting in sync with his receivers.

Not even sure what this means? Each of the prospective goalies got 2 starts in reverse order of how we rate them in games that are designed to get them ready for the coming season. Why would you possibly worry about your 'best' goalie – a player who is both young, and healthy - playing behind the type of lineup he's playing behind tonight? Isn't it a pretty typical preseason lineup, the likes of which most goalies have to play behind in pre-season? Don't you want him to be tested?

Did he play any games during the preseason? (haven't heard anything about him being sent down)

More like they've got 2 guys who realistically should provide .915 goaltending in a division where I'm not confident any team other than Tampa has even one.

I want to sign up, but as a deadbeat owner last year, I probably shouldn't.

It will be really interesting to see how the seemingly inevitable fall of Pittsburgh, Washington, Tampa, Boston and the Islanders — and rise of the New Jersey, Ottawa, Buffalo, Detroit and Columbus — manifests itself: which teams, how far and when?

Boston is underrated IMO; their goaltending, top 4 on the blueline and their 4-line depth is among the best in the division. Their demise is being almost entirely tied to age and injuries.

I see capfriendly has him listed as an RFA and I don’t understand why. He will have finished 7 years when this deal expires. 7 years=UFA status, no? @Taro T?

Just needs to ask Dad.

We will find out where Tage's game goes when the real games start, but the guy has become fun to watch. Speed, strength, skill, shot and attitude: he's ticking all the boxes

Look, I know it’s a meaningless game, but I can’t be the only one noticing how ***** good Owen Power is?

Other have covered it: home team gets last change and therefore their desired matchups. Bruins almost always run Bergeron against the other team’s most dangerous line because he can both neutralize and outscore pretty much any line. The Sabres would probably rather have the Tage line in a winning matchup while hoping the defensively strong Girgs line can hold Bergeron to a -1, instead of having the Tage line in a -1 and the offence-poor Girgs line playing their match to a draw. The reason Donnie has pulled Tuch off the top line is he hopes it will create a second line that can outscore the resulting matchup in either rink. And the reason the youth of the Cozens line doesn't concern me like it does Weave is because it is almost certainly going to be going up against a less-skilled, slower line, because the other team’s best are going to facing the Sabres more experienced units. The way Donnie appears to have his bottom 6 drawn up, I think it will clearly be better than the bottom sixes they will be facing. The bigger question for me is whether Quinn, Mitts and (to a lesser extent) Olofsson will be overmatched in what they are being asked to do.

Like him, but is it it? He’s kinda riding his rookie year as far as his reputation. Tage had 23 more goals and nine more points than Barzal last year. 19 goals and 62 points are his career highs since that amazing first year. 22nd-highest scoring centre over the past 4 years and he’s been healthy. Sam Reinhart, for example, has more points over that span.

Nope, not any more than they would have wanted Bjork Hayden and Eakin out there against them or Cozens Krebs Hinostroza, or The Leafs would want Kerfoot Kampf and Engvall. Hell, how many teams have any line they would want to match against Bergeron? I think Peterka earned his roster spot last year in Rochester. It would take an extraordinary combination of unexpectedly good play by Bjork and Sheahan and both bad play and bad attitude from Peterka over all of September for him not to make the final 23. He’s made the team. I think that ignores what the other Buffalo lines will be doing with their matchups. I would imagine the Bergeron line gets the Tage line in Boston and the Girgensons line in Buffalo. Those lines should be able to insulate the Cozens line most of the time. Not sure why we would think the Cozens line is more vulnerable than any other bottom 6 line on any other team. Anything they give up in their own zone, they should make up on offence. And their speed should give some lines and D-pairs trouble.

Glad to see Power has supplanted Joki on PP2. That seemed a no-brainer. Pretty sure VO will slide into his normal spot on the right wall there, pushing Krebs to the opposite side and Quinn down low. Although it's entirely possible Quinn stays where he is, because he shone in that spot in Rochester. It's just that Krebs/Cozens/Olofsson has been very effective across the mid-zone. And yes, I am reading into the lines for preseason. Donnie made it pretty clear the last two games were regular season tune-ups.

Going to see virtual regular season lineups for the final 2 games.